Family thanks God for safety after home collapses around them in tornado

A GoFundMe is set up for the family

Posted: 5:14 AM, April 16, 2018Updated: 5:14 AM, April 16, 2018

AMHERST COUNTY, Va. - An Amherst County woman is thanking God for keeping her family safe as a tornado destroyed their home on Sunday.

When the storm hit, Leecy Fink, her husband Gary, and three of their children were in their home in the Elon area, which is near Madison Heights.

Fink says she was watching Facebook Live updates from 10 News while the storm was approaching. Gary Fink, who works for the Lynchburg City Police Department, also got a warning from a colleague. That's when the Finks corralled their children and a family pet into the basement, under the stairwell. Leecy Fink held a door over them to protect them.

The storm leveled their home, and neighbors did not think they had survived. The neighbors came up to the basement windows and started yelling when they realized the family was in the basement.

Fink says there was about a foot of water under the stairwell, and the family became concerned about electrical currents coming from the HVAC unit, because there were live wires everywhere.

The family was able to go up the stairs from the basement, and neighbors lifted them out of the hole. Teenagers in the area gave the family piggyback rides to another family's basement.

"God absolutely protected my family and my children, and my son and my daughter who were not at home with us," Fink says. "We were so protected by our Lord today."